Thursday, January 24, 2013

Originally posted to the POD Network listserv (always a great source of information), and reprinted with permission from Tom Pusateri:

Dear colleagues,

I have recently updated the lists of SoTL journals and
upcoming teaching conferences that are available from Kennesaw State
University's CETL Web site.See below
for links to those resources.

PLEASE NOTE:CETL
is in the process of updating its entire Web presence, and we hope to have the
new site operational in March 2013.At
that time, the journals and conferences sites will be searchable by key terms,
topics, dates, etc.Until that update occurs,
we are providing the lists of SoTL journals and teaching conferences in PDF
formats rather than in the HTML format we had used previously.We will notify you when the sites have been
updated and include redirects from the current sites to the new sites.

Here are the current sites with updated information,Please feel free to share these resources
with your colleagues.If you have any
suggestions for additions or updates to the site, please email me at tpusater@kennesaw.edu.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

On Tuesday, the day before President Obama is expected to
announce new proposals to control gun violence, two campuses were stunned by
shootings.

The
Lexington Herald-Leader reported that two people were killed and one
was injured in a shooting at Hazard Community and Technical College, in
Kentucky. The shooting took place in the early evening and the college went
into lockdown until authorities said that it was safe for people to move about.
Classes were being held in two buildings on campus when the shooting took
place.

Authorities said that the motive for the shooting may
have had nothing to do with the college. A man charged in the shooting is
reported to have had a child with a woman whom he allegedly killed, and
officials believe the couple used the college's parking lot to exchange the
child for visitation. The child was not injured.

College officials have called off today's classes at the
campus.

The shootings in Kentucky came hours after a man reported to
be a part-time student at Stevens Institute of Business & Arts shot the St.
Louis college's financial aid director and then himself on Tuesday, KMOV
television reported. Police officers quoted by the station did not
identify a motive for the shooting of Greg Elsenrath, Stevens' financial aid
director, by the unidentified student. The shooter was taken into custody at
the hospital, where both he and Elsenrath were taken; both are expected to
survive.

The Associated
Press reported that the shooting was not random and that that aid director
"appeared to be targeted."

Here is a compilation of articles from the last two years
about higher education, shootings on campus and regulation of guns:

Earlier today, we sent a broadcast
message about the OER course at SUNY. However, people have to be logged into
this Community to see the details and the registration link. So I am now
sending the content of the event including the registration link. If you
register for the course and would like a mentor, write to melody@collegeopentextbooks.org
--- Regards, Jacky

Use
Buffalo State as the Institution, search for Beth Burns and then choose the
class.

OER-101:
Locating, Creating, Licensing and Utilizing OERsis a self-paced
online community course that has been built to demonstrate how to find,
adapt, and develop OERs step-by-step. These OERs may then be licensed via
Creative Commons, printed and bound, and integrated into any type of learning
environment.
The course is organized into five “pursuits,” each of which represents one
facet of the world of OERs. Participants are encouraged to complete all
of the pursuits by following the suggested course progression, but each
pursuit can also be completed individually.

For
evaluation and feedback, OER-101 will employ a badging system powered by
Mozilla Open Badges. The exploration of badging within the course is
funded by a SUNY Innovative Instruction Technology Grant. Participants will
earn badges by completing the course pursuits and will receive a ‘master
badge’ for course completion. Additionally, OER-101 will utilize a
community learning model informed by a facilitation method established by
Philyse Banner at the American Public University System.

The
results from this course will be documented within the SUNY Learning Commons.

Accessing
the Course

The
course is offered through Blackboard’s Coursesites. Enrollment in the
course is open and continuous. Participants may self-enroll beginning
on Wednesday, January 16th, 2013, and the course content will be available to
participants after Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013. Additional
information on the course and a link to registration can be found at https://OpenSUNY.coursesites.com
Use Buffalo State as the Institution, search for Beth Burns and
then choose the class.

Expanding a bit on Noreen's recent listserv invitation to "consider posting [to the ATL blog] links to the 'good stuff' you’re finding and share your thoughts...as well," I'd like to invite you to consider committing to a specific scheduled blog post as a designated ATL blogger. With Noreen leaving us to take on a new job and new challenges, at least for a while I'm going to have to pick up my game here and help out more, but I'm hoping to get some additional help by "crowdsourcing" the work load :-) We know everyone is crazy busy these days, but we think the blog is a great vehicle for an active exchange of ideas and discussion of issues that are broadly relevant to our ATL community; there's real value in hearing from multiple voices and perspectives, and I know we have lots of folks in this far-flung community with lots of valuable things to share! So contact me if you're interested (bmoore@sbctc.edu) and we'll take it from there to work out details; thanks!
Bill

Learning analytics tools aim to boost student retention, outcomes

As policy makers and campus leaders focus on boosting college completion rates, learning analytics is a field that has exploded in importance. A number of programs now exist to help instructors and campus leaders track student progress more closely, leading to better student outcomes.
Some of these programs are standalone software packages, while others are modules or features included in leading student information or learning management systems. Here’s an overview of some of the many products that can improve communication between students and professors, allowing everyone to gain a clearer perspective on students’ needs.

Interesting article with thoughts on combining MOOC-learning and prior
learning in an ePortfolio. Shouldn't everyone have an ePortfolio for course-related evidence of learning, professional development,
on-the-job highlights, and so forth? (No, I haven’t created one for myself,
yet!)

From Campus Technology:

The Taming of the MOOC--With ePortfolio Evidence

By Trent Batson

01/16/13

The IT revolution that was supposed to transform higher education has failed to materialize, at least in the way we had imagined it. The revolution did occur, but not directly within higher education--instead, it changed the overall nature of work in our culture. And now, higher education seems to be behind the curve, struggling to catch up.

Enter the MOOC--a relatively new buzzword meaning Massive Open Online Course. And it holds hope for many as a way for higher education to "catch up." Indeed, MOOCs could be one way to get ahead of the curve again, or, they could become a yet another material threat to higher education.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

At the end of the month, the Washington Center, as the
National Resource Center on Learning Communities will release the first issue
of a new open-access, peer-reviewed e-journal dedicated to LCs—Learning
Communities Research and Practice.

The first issue features
reprints of articles from the Journal of Learning Communities Research (JLCR.
Future issues will be released bi-annually in May and November.

Our May 2013 issue will focus on
providing a broad outline of the shape that learning community practice is
taking today.

The journal will have four main
types of articles:

Research
articles
(2,000–2,500 words) focus on an issue or question, provide theoretical
grounding, gather and assess evidence to address that issue or question,
and use a method appropriate to that particular context.

Practices
from the Field
(1,000–2,500 words) describe a practice developed to address a particular
issue or problem in learning communities work, including a rationale for
the practice being used.

Perspectives (1,000–2,000 words)
share personal and/or professional reflections on the field of learning
community practice or experiences in the context of higher education.

The deadline
for submissions for the May 2013 issue is March 5, 2013. We invite faculty,
staff, administrators, researchers, and students involved in higher education
learning communities to submit articles. A complete list of instructions for
authors will be available when the January issue is released. Questions about
the journal can be sent to lcrpjournal@evergreen.edu.

WEBSITE

If you have visited the Washington Center website in the
past month, you have found an entirely new website – with a new look and a lot
of new material—including new resources on learning communities, as well as
many other areas of teaching and learning.

If you have not visited our website lately, we invite you to
take a look at it.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

The fact that MOOCS and
online courses have sparked new conversations on your campus about teaching and
learning is a terrific development. We should be grateful whenever attention is
paid to teaching. The problem is that neither MOOCS or online courses are, in
themselves, a strategy to meet the challenges we all face in higher ed. MOOCS
and online courses are a means, not an ends, and should be understood as such.
Source: Inside Higher Ed

All working-age
residents of Washington are eligible to access free online classes that teach
how to use computer software programs. Over the last two years, the Employment
Security Department has provided free access to online Microsoft courses. Now
the free course selection includes instruction on software by Adobe, Apple,
IBM, Intuit, SAP and others. Registrations are processed through WorkSource at http://www.wa.gov/esd/e-learning/default.htm

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

The State Board for
Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) is seeking applications from qualified
candidates for the following three positions:

oPolicy Associate, eLearning and Open Education

oeLearning Program
Administrator

oI-DEA Instructional Designer

These positions are based in
Olympia, Washington – State Board has office locations in Bellevue, Olympia and
Spokane – and are assigned to the Education Division of the State Board.
Applications will be accepted through 5 p.m., Friday, January 11, 2013, or
until filled. For more information about these positions and the
Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, see the attached
recruitment announcement, visit http://sbctc.edu/college/_hr-jobs.aspx,
or contact SBCTC’s Human Resource Office at (360) 704-4301.